I came to the ‘IPL‘ late — about 5-years ago. But, now I love, just love it. I think it is the MOST exciting cricket you can see. The BEST. Not sure how they manage it, but every match proves to be classic.
The IPL had NOT been available on the ‘Willow‘ APP (on ‘Roku‘) for the last few years. They did NOT have the U.S. streaming rights. That was a PAIN. Willow is my favorite way to watch cricket — &, as such, I have a rolling, full-time subscription.
This year the IPL is on the Willow APP. That is brilliant.
I, however, had lost sight as to when the IPL was starting. Went to Willow last night & BINGO they were already on Match #7. So some catching up to do. But, I am delighted.
This, i.e., NOT showing the fall of ALL the wickets in the HIGHLIGHT (reel), has been going on for a few months now. [Well, it is not exactly new, BUT it never used to be widespread.]
I was watching the EXCITING 1st ODI between ‘Australia & India’. They did NOT show the fall of MOST WICKETS. One or two I could understand. We are talking 6,7 or MORE. Totally ruined the FLOW of the game. One minute there is one pair batting & then with NO WARNING a totally different pair.
This is inexcusable.
Willow used to be SO GOOD. They knew their cricket.
Click to ENLARGE.Click to ENLARGE. Screenshots from my 60″ TV.Click to ENLARGE. Full SCHEDULE for the 70 league matches. This will help you keep track. See below for downloadable PDF.
I am very disciplined & methodical when it comes to watching the IPL. I don’t skip around or just follow a few favorite teams. I watch the HIGHLIGHTS of EACH match in order in which they are played. I have the schedule printed out (ABOVE) & I go through it, systematically. This year (as you can see) I also put a tick against the team that won!
The ‘Willow TV‘ highlights this year, from what I can see can vary from ~40 mins. to just over 1 hour. So, in general, it takes me 2 days to watch a single game. Plus, I don’t watch cricket when I am away. So, I was always going to be a bit behind BUT now I realize I am way, way behind.
But, that is OK. I am in no rush. The matches will remain on Willow TV for at least another 3 months. I should be caught up by then.
Right now I am ONLY watching IPL cricket — forsaking all the other series! I LIKE THE IPL. Something about it. Higher class of cricket than average. It took me a LONG time to warm up to the IPL. I have only been watching it for about 5 years, if that. But, now I am hooked.
Click to ENLARGE. Screenshots from my 60″ TV.Click to ENLARGE. Full SCHEDULE for the 70 league matches. This will help you keep track. See below for downloadable PDF.
I have BOTH ‘Willow‘ & ‘ESPN+‘ subscriptions for cricket (& just for cricket).
I only watch ESPN+ under duress IF there is some cricket that is ONLY available through them. I even check poor-quality ‘YouTube’ before I opt to watch cricket on ESPN+. They just don’t have a clue — though, of late, they grudgingly provide HIGHLIGHTS for matches involving ‘India‘ (& just India).
On the other hand, cricket is Willow’s main business. Though NOT perfect they do a decent job. You can enjoy watching cricket on Willow.
I wasn’t, at first, a fan of IPL. I only got hooked on it in the last 4 or 5 years. During that time I was forced to watch it on India’s ‘Hotstar’ & ESPN+. ‘Hotstar’ is the PITS. Outright crooks. I will never, ever, ever have anything to do with them. I would rather just watch what I can find on YouTube. As I have already said, ESPN+ is not great.
But, having the IPL on Willow is MAGIC. I am delighted. I am relieved.
I just hope they don’t let me down now that I have raved about how happy & relieved I am. That tends to be just my luck — the Reverse Midas Touch that I have been blessed with. SMILE.
I haven’t watched ‘Willow TV‘ in weeks (though I have a fully paid up annual subscription) because, alas, they don’t have the streaming rights to the T20 World Cup. Instead, I have been watching all the World Cup games on ‘ESPN+‘. Though the cricket watching experience with them is nowhere near even close to that of Willow, they, to their credit, have done a fairly decent job with the World Cup. Much to my delight & relief we do have 15- to 16-minute highlights of all the matches. Those are what I watch. I don’t have the time to watch 3- to 4-hour long match.
But, with the World Cup ending on Sunday, i.e., November 13, 2022, Willow will be back in the streaming business. Hence, why I wanted to share the upcoming schedule with you. They sent it to me in the form of an e-mail. Enjoy.
Until earlier this year ESPN+ failed to provide HIGHLIGHTS of the cricket matches they covered. It did NOT matter whether it was a Test, an ODI or T20I — they only provided the full, ball-by-ball coverage. This meant that it was pretty useless to most of us. However much we love cricket, most of us don’t have the time to watch 5- to 7-hours of ball-by-ball coverage. Even watching a T20I, which I enjoy, requires around 4-hours. This is why they have cricket highlights.
Though I subscribe to ESPN+ (& Willow) for the cricket, I had despaired of ESPN+. I love Willow’s coverage — BUT they, increasingly, are getting squeezed out, like with the IPL.
So, I was AMAZED & DELIGHTED to see, a few weeks ago, that ESPN+ had started doing highlights — both in English & Hindi — albeit, just for matches involving India. ESPN+, obviously, was bowing to pressure from the huge Indian fan base. I was glad. This was a start.
Their highlights, at present, are under 15-minutes — those for the IPL just under 14-minutes. To I, that is a tad too short. 1-hour highlights used to be the norm. But, I have noticed that even Willow is making 25-minute highlights. I think 30-minutes should be the mark.
That said, I, so far, having watched the first three IPL 2022 matches, have liked the 14-minute highlights. That worked out real well, yesterday, when we had two matches. I could fit in the highlights for both.
So, just want to pass this along given that I know that there are millions of folks in the U.S. who want to watch decent IPL highlights.
On a Roku you can get ‘Willow TV‘ cricket in one of two ways: as a channel on ‘Sling’ or directly via the Willow APP.
As of now the Willow APP is NOT just the best way to access cricket being shown on Willow — one could argue that it is the ONLY meaningful way to access Willow.
Sling, with its new user interface, has crippled Willow TV! I warned you about that a week ago.
But luckily the Willow APP is now world class. The Willow APP is a joy to use (though, I will admit, the REW & FF feature could be improved).
Yes, a few years back, the Willow APP on Roku was extremely primitive & limited. All you could do was watch live matches. That is it. This was specific to Roku. It was the Roku-version of the Willow APP.
Well, that was then & this is now.
The current APP is full-featured as my images above will show.
You have live, archives as well as selected videos. All of it is logically laid out with graphical headers & GOOD descriptions. You can see exactly what is available & easily decide on what you want to watch.
Yes, when it comes to highlights they, like ‘Hotstar’, are now catering for the limited-attention span of most Indian viewers. So, a la Hotstar, they offer numerous short highlights in addition to the proper (& main) highlight package. Well, you kind of have to get used to skipping over those that do not interest you — without reading too much of the narrative — focusing on finding the highlights. I have kind of got good at this. I can quickly find the main highlight packages — skipping over the rest.
Bottom line. Willow on Sling is no longer an option. Do NOT subscribe to Sling. Get the Willow APP directly. You will be happy & thank me for giving you this heads up.
The ‘Sling’ APP. on Roku now has a new, & supposedly much-improved, user interface. This was as of the last couple of days, i.e., as of say August 7, 2021.
This new, highly-graphical user-interface might be fine for the main channels on Sling — BUT it definitely cripples ‘Willow’ (as in ‘Willow TV’ that is the dedicated 24×7 cricket channel). Why?
Because the new interface doesn’t allow you to GO BACK, i.e., you can only view channels LIVE or record shows that are scheduled for later. You can’t go back, e.g., select a show that was shown yesterday. Past show are supposed to be available in the ‘On Demand’ section or in your DVR (if you had scheduled any recording). This new set-up totally & utterly CRIPPLES Willow.
Central to Willow was the ability to go back a FULL-WEEK in terms of the matches shown. So, you could go back & pick highlight episodes you wanted to watch. NO MORE. The ‘On Demand‘ section is bare. Yes, I am trying to record some future episodes. It is a MESS. It is so bad that I cancelled BOTH Willow & Sling!
I am going to try the Willow APP on Roku, directly, without subscribing through Sling. I will let you know — but it might take me a month or more. I am in no hurry.
